Freight-car awning.



No. 685,265. Patented Oct. 29, 190:. vchn. DOE.

FREIGHT CAB AWNING. A 'pi ica z izhl med Aug. 10. 1900. (No Model.)

WWW/WW is ca. m lofourua, WASHINGTON n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES R. DOE, OF MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA.

FREIGHT-CAR AW NING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNTO. 685,265, dated October 29, 1901.

Application filed August 10, 1900. $erial No. 26,527. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GHARLEsR. Don, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Mount Pleasant, in the county of Henry and State of Iowa,have invented a new and useful-Freight- Car Awning, of which the followingis a specification. V

This inventionrelates to a novel device designed for the protection of freight-handlers and freight from snow and rain during the unloading of freight-cars-as, for instance, at warehouses or depots. Warehouse-platforms are ordinarily protected fromsun by a roof or permanent awning provided with an eavestrough for preventing Water from dripping from the roof upon the freight or handlers in wet weather. Provision is not made, however, for protecting the men or goods in the immediate proximity of the freight-car door, and the unloading of the cars in very warm or inclement weather-has therefore been attained with considerable hardship, and the freight is more or less damaged by the sun or rain before it is moved from the car to the protection afforded by the warehouse roof or awning.

The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and effective car-awning designed for temporary use during the loading or unloading of the car and arranged for ready attachment to or detachment from the car structure.

To the accomplishment of this object the preferred embodiment of the invention comprehends a light portable sheet-metalawning or protector constructed aird airranged in a manner to be hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a freight-car, showing one side door thereof slid back and my temporary car-awning mounted above the doorway or opening. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the subject-matter of Fig. 1,and Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the awning.

Referring to the numerals of reference employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the views, 1 indicates a portion of a freight-car, having, as usual, a doorway 2, designed to be closed by a side door 3, which and to which my awning is designed to be attached.

The awning E (indicated by the numeral 6) ispreferablyconstructed,asheretoforestated, of light sheet metal and is corrugated, as shown, both for strength and ornamental purposes and to form a series of depressions or gutters calculated toconvey the water into the awning-trough '7, located at the inner edge of the awning 6 and immediately under the edge or cave of the car-roof. Attention is called to the peculiarity of this awning,

which resides in the fact that it is given a.

slight upward incline toward its outer edge and is provided with the cave-trough at its inner edge, this peculiar relation of the awning and trough being necessited by the novel manner of its usethat is to say, by reason of the fact that protection from the rain must be efiected by a trough directly under the edge of the car-roof and from the sun by an awning extended a considerable distance beyond the trough, but having such inclination as will cause rain precipitated upon the awning to flow into the trough for discharge at the lower end thereof. The inner wall 8 of the trough 7 is disposed vertically, as shown in the drawings, for attachment, as by riveting or otherwise, to the vertical bars 9 of a pair of side frames, which are designed for the support of the awning and are composed of the bars 9 and the inclined bracebars 10, which latter extend from the lower ends of the bars 9 to the outer edge of the awning 6, to the under side of which they are riveted or secured. These side frames are preferably constructed of single strips of flat bar metal and are bent to form loops 11 at the intersections of the bars 9 or 10 for the attachment of securing-chains 12, depending from the lower ends of the side frames, as shown, and provided with terminal hooks 13, which take under any available projecting part of the car structure and serve to prevent the raising of the awningas, for instance, by severe wind-storms.

The upper extremities of the bars are olfset laterally, as shown in Fig. 2, and are bent to form terminal hangers or hangerhooks 14, located above the trough and designed to take over the door-track 4 of the car to support the awning above the doorway. One of these hangers is made slightly longer than the other, as shown, for the purpose of imparting sutficient longitudinal inclination for the trough to cause water deposited therein to flow freely therefrom.

I have referred to the upper ends of the bars 9 as being offset laterally. This offset I have shown in Fig. 3, as stated, and it is designed to bring the hangers or hooks 14 somewhat closer together than the bars 9 in order to permit their attachment to the rail 4 at points intermediate of the opposite edges of the doorway, while permitting the opposite sides or ends of the awning to extend sufficiently beyond the doorway at either side to effectually protect the freight and handlers. The offset mentioned I have indicated by the numeral 15 for the purpose of distinguishing it from a second offset of the hangers (shown more clearly in Fig. 2) and indicated by the numeral 16, the offset 16 being in a direction at right angles to the offset 15 and designed for the purpose of throwing the hooks of the hangers somewhat nearer the car than the vertical wall 8 of the trough in order to permit the hooks to engage the track and to bring the wall 8 directly under the guardrail 5 at the edge of the car-roof.

From the foregoing description it will appear that my device is designed to behung in a warehouse and to be quickly attached to or detached from a car for the protection of men and goods from sun and rain during the transfer of freight from the car to the warehouse or depot; but while the present embodiment of the invention appears at this time to be preferable I wish to reserve the right to effect such changes, modifications, and variations as maybe fairly embraced within the scope of the protection prayed.

What I claim is- 1. An awning provided with a trough extending along its inner edge and with retaining devices disposed adjacent to the trough.

2. Atemporaryawningforfreight-cars provided with a trough extending along its in- 53 ner edge, and retaining devices secured to the trough.

3. Atemporary awning for freight-cars provided with a trough extending along its inner edge, hangers extending upwardly from the trough, and brace-bars disposed below the awning and connected at their upper ends to the awning and trough, respectively.

4. A temporary awning provided with a trough extending along its inner edge and with side frames comprising vertical bars extending downwardly from the inner edge of the trough, inclined brace-bars extending between the outer end of the awning and the lower ends of the vertical bars, and hangers formed at the upper ends of said vertical bars for engagement with the door-track of a car.

5. A temporary awning for freight-cars provided with a trough extending along its inner edge, hangers carried by the trough for engagement with the door-track of a car, side frames depending from the awning, and retaining devices located at the lower ends of the side frames.

6. A temporary awning for freight-cars provided with a trough extending along its inner edge, depending side frames located at each side of the awning, each side frame being formed from a single strip bent to form vertical bars having offset hangers at their upper ends, loops at their lower ends and inclined brace-bars extending from said loops to the outer edge of the awning, and hooks having flexible connection with the loops and located therebelow.

7. A tern porary awning for freight-cars constructed of corrugated sheet metal and provided with a trough along its inner edge and with retaining devices carried by the trough.

8. A temporary awning provided with a trough extending along one edge and with books adjacent to the trough for effecting the support of the awning upon the car structure.

9. An awning provided with a trough at its inner edge, said awning being inclined downwardly toward the trough.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES R. DOE.

Witnesses:

E. G. LINN, A. L. PUNTON. 

